


The Sword's the Soul

by quicksylver28



Series: Little Black Dress - Works in Sentinel Fandom [2]
Category: Gundam Wing, The Sentinel
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Duo and Hilde are bros, Explicit Language, Ilora Merquise, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Multi, Night Terrors, Sentinel/Guide, Violence, but not too angsty though., she is adorable, zechs has a daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-14 23:51:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4584942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksylver28/pseuds/quicksylver28
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vivid Dreams bring Duo Maxwell back to earth and to someone he thought he would never see again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i love gundam wing and wanted to write in it for the LBD challenge. i also loved doing a real world cast for this story. 
> 
> see my poem inspiration
> 
> The Sword’s the Soul of thy vast seigniory,  
>      Forged in the white hot flame, from flawless steel,  
> With mighty hammer-stroke and slow anneal,  
>      Upon the anvil of eternity.  
> Their hearts aglow with pride and loyalty  
>      For Sire and Land, thy Sons with dauntless zeal  
> Press forward to the fray, through woe or weal,  
>      Seeking delight in life’s extremity!  
>    
> Land of the Cods! Thy sword-smiths as of yore  
>      Still forge the perfect glaives of purest ore.  
> Still live the Samurai, who honour breathe,  
>      And, rather than to shame their ancestry,  
> To live dishonoured and dishonour thee,  
>      In their own hearts their swords would sooner sheathe.
> 
> TAKESADA

His panicked cries echoed through the small house as he came awake with a choked off scream, tripping on the cheap coarse sheets that had tangled around his legs during his fitful slumber and tumbling off the bed. He fell on his left arm with a pained grunt, wildly kicking at the sweat soaked cloth that clung to his bare legs, ripping them in his frantic fight to get free.

A deep un-named fear crackled through his body like a quickening as he finally scrambled free of the bedding and pressed him sweat chilled body against the nearest corner wall, his bare feet squeaking against the hard flooring. A surging wave of adrenaline has him tensed, his muscles straining to do something, anything, to take action against the unseen enemy.

Blood pounding in his ears deafen him and his lungs struggle to pull in air as black flowers bloom across his sight. For a moment he is back in the war, Oz beating down the door of his safe house.

Foot steps thunder down the hall outside his door and he dives for the knife he keeps under his pillow, years of combat have him crouching behind the bed, knife in hand before he's even aware of where he is.

The door slams open, Hilde braces her slender frame against the door way with a loaded gun held carefully in her hands. She is barefoot and wild haired, dressed in a large threadbare t-shirt that she wears to sleep. Her grey sharp eyes take in the room quickly, the unmade bed, the ripped sheets on the floor, the ex gundam pilot crouched and ready behind the bed panting for breath, wicked sharp knife in trembling hand.

"Duo?" she tries softly.

No sign of recognition in those large vacant violet eyes. She purses her lips.

"02. Status" her voice sharp this time. An order, not a request.

Laser sharp eyes snap to her and she slowly lowers the gun, her movements careful and slow, well within his sight as he too relaxes from his tense position.

His voice is rough as he replies. It takes him two tries to get the word out. "Clear"

Hilde nods, her body sagging as she thumbs the safety on the gun. She glances at the bedside clock. 3:40am. She sighs.

"I'll put the coffee on."

Duo nods tiredly as she leaves the doorway, heading to the kitchen in what was sadly becoming a nightly ritual. He heaved himself up unto the bed, slipping the knife back under the pillow.

The dreams always left him exhausted, aching, as if he'd just come off a two day stint, no food , no sleep, nothing but his old buddy Deathscythe and the swarm of Taurus mobile dolls at the other end of his thermal blade. His drops his head heavily into his hands, eyes squeezed shut against sting of tears.

It’s always the same damn dream. Each night, every night for the past months. He wakes up after each one, heart in his throat, muscles in spasms from the strain. He knows it's the same dream. Because every time he crawls back up to consciousness, he shivers as the remnants of the dream fall from his waking mind like dirty cobwebs. The dreams leave him wrecked. Just as the ones he'd had during and after the war. The only difference were that those dreams he remembered. Those were the ones he never forgot.

He stumbles into the bright lights of the tiny kitchen dressed in rumpled boxers, bringing his hand up to shade his eyes as he drops gracelessly into one of the odd mismatched chairs. It's had gotten to the point where he could no longer pilot his salvage vessel, the Redemption, for the Sweepers safely anymore.

He'd had to dock the salvage ship with Howard who'd taken one look at his exhausted face and all but dumped him at Hilde's place with a half hearted growl not to come back until he'd sorted himself out.

A chipped coffee cup is placed in front of him on the cracked Formica table and he clasps his hands around it, sighing as the heat soaked into his cold fingers. Hilde slides into the seat opposite and watches silently as she sips on her own mug, stifling a yawn as she took in every detail of her companion's face.

"You look like shit"

"I feel like shit" He chuckles bitterly, running a hand through the riot of hair that has escaped from his usual braid. "It's these dreams. I don't what else I can do."

"Are they that bad?" Hilde leans unto her elbows, bringing the still steaming cup up to her face. "You've had nightmares before. I remember from just after the Eve Wars. The really bad ones with Father Maxwell. You punched me once when I tried to wake you. Hurt like a mother fucker."

Duo hangs his head with a dark chuckle. "I remember that, you wouldn't talk to me for two damn days, much less get in bed with me again until I started seeing that therapist. I almost died from blue balls."

"Oh please..." she laughed. "...you punched me in the boob you asshole. You're lucky I ever let you get your dick wet ever again. That hurt like a son of a bitch."

"So did the blue balls" he grinned.

"Well... " Hidle huffed. "… since you and your dick survived the ordeal, I'm sure that it was worth it to get the help you needed."

"Yeah, it was" he reached over and entwined his fingers with hers briefly, looking up at her through his fringe."Thanks for that Hil."

Her fingers squeezed his before letting go. "Anytime D."

He pressed his forehead against the cool table top with a groan. "These dreams aren't like those. Those I remember. Every image and face that haunted my memories. They were so clear and so loud that for a while I thought I would lost myself completely. But at least I knew what I was facing when I saw the faces of those I'd killed when I was Shinigami."

Every time he saw Solo's gaunt face, swollen in plague. When he saw Sister Helen's sweet face half burned and snarling that he'd killed them all. or Father Maxwell's ash white face, his crooked and rotting teeth gnashing as his gnarled fingers grabbed at Duo's face. The countless, nameless oz soldiers, shrieking 'It's a Gundam' in terror, faces tinted green in the light of his thermal scythe. So many faces to steal his breath and stop his heart.

"Those dreams terrified me, they still do even now… but these dreams" he squeezed his eyes tight against the sting of tears. "these are worse… because for the life of me I can't remember them. Every time I wake up, my mind goes blank and I can't remember anything. And they're getting worse. I don't even know what they are but I know in my heart that they're getting worse."

A shudder racks his entire body. "How can I fight what I can't see? I don't know what to do anymore H"

Hilde slips out of her seat and pads around the small kitchen table. Gently she guided his head up and back, sitting in his lap and pulling him into an embrace. He trembles against her as he buries his face in her neck, his arms coming up to hold her. It's been a while since she's held him like this. After the wars they had tried to make a life together here in the L2 Scrap yard.

They'd shared a dream of working together for the betterment of the colony still reeling from the first gundam war, much less the second. It hadn't lasted that long but they had come away from that time as friends.

He was her best friend, her once lover, her protector and guardian back on the Peacemillion, he was Pilot 02 of the Gundam Deathscythe, he was the God of Death, the Shinigami, the Destroyer of Oz and Romefeller. But he was also just Duo, just a man who had gone through hell and had come out on the other side with a cheeky grin and the devil's own crown tilted rakishly on his head.

But right now he was hurting deeply, jumping at shadows and so afraid to sleep that it made her want to shoot something. She tilted his head up, pressing a kiss against his forehead.

"I know what you are going to do." she murmured as his wide violet eyes looked up into hers. "you're going to get your shit and head earth side. Today"

"What?" he choked as she hopped off his lap and gathered the half empty mugs.

"Why Earth? What is there on earth that can help me? I don't even have a clue where to start."

She placed the mugs in the sink and spun on the balls of her feet. "But we do have a clue where to start. We're gonna start with Quatre."

He gaped. "Uh…. How can Q-bean help us? We haven't spoken in years"

"You may not believe in answering emails Duo…" she raised an eyebrow as he blushed, "… but Winner tries to keep in touch with all the old crowd, even after all these years. And he's the best chance we chance we have for finding Heero right now."

Duo froze as that name rattled around his skull. Heero Yuy. Pilot 01. God. It had taken him years to put the memory of that last day together out of his mind. His doomed relationship with Hilde had been part of the collateral damage from that day and everything that had happened in the last days of the Eve Wars.

"Why…." he swallows heavily, "why do we need to find Heero?" his breath catches in his throat.

Hilde takes a while to reply, carefully drying off the last cup and placing it on the rack before turning to face him.

"Because you were screaming his name in your sleep tonight."  


	2. Chapter 2

"Mr. Barton will see you now"

The lobby was bright enough to feel welcoming and had enough shiny glass to make Duo feel shabby in his scuffed combat boots and patched jacket. The security guards were impeccably dressed in suits that probably cost more than most people's rent, tailored just so as to conceal the weapons they were surely packing. 

Oh.. And was that a secondary ankle holster he spotted on the head of security? Why yes… yes it was.

The elevator ride is long and silent, no muzac in WEI buildings, no siree. No 'Girl from Ipenema' to hum along to as the marvel of glass and steel that was the executive elevator rose up along the side of the building, treating the occupant to a mezmerizing view of the early morning sun breaking over the city in a golden haze, warming the cool greys and blues and purples of pre-dawn like a wave, washing away the chill of night .

Duo shivered, wrapping his arms around himself as he let the soft whirr of the elevator set his mind adrift. Less than twenty four hours ago he'd sat in Hilde's kitchen while she placed a call to Howard and had gotten him a bunk on an earthbound ship. He'd showered, dressed and grabbed but his one duffel, kissed Hilde thanks and farewell and had been entering earth atmosphere before he could even blink.

It had also been almost twenty four hours since he'd slept more that ten minutes together. The dreams waited for him as soon as he'd closed his eyes. It got to the point where sleeping didn't make sense anymore so he'd gone without, spending much of the trip helping out the crew and reading up on the latest planet events.

He hadn't kept in touch with the others much since the wars. Wufei had disappeared within the Preventer ranks within days of the war ending. Quatre had become the face of Winner Enterprises Incorporated and Duo did not know Barton all that well. Heero…. Well Heero Yuy had fallen into Relena Peacecraft's arms and out of Duo's life for good.

After that, there had been nothing keeping Duo on the planet so he'd fallen in with Hilde on L2, telling himself that he could make a life there. White picket fences and all that jazz. But it hadn't stuck. It wasn't anybody's fault but his own really, and Hilde had understood and remained his friend after everything had been said and done. She was an incredible woman and had even helped him get his own ship after he'd joined up with the Sweepers.

Sometimes, in the deep quiet of space, he yearned to go back to her and try again. He knew that she would take him back if he asked. But that was selfish of him and She was 'fuckin' Grade A' and deserved better than a street rat like him.

And then he was on earth.

Earth. The big blue marble. Third planet. Terra Firma

Dirt Side.

He'd jumped from the landing platform and hit the shuttle port tarmac in a crouch and a grunt. His landing was a bit heavier than he'd anticipated and he stumbled forward with an off, the gravity of the planet messing with his usual cat-like balance, his duffel falling from his shoulder to thump on the ground. Seemed he'd needed to get his land legs back after being a spacer for so long.

He dusted his hands off on his soft worn black pants and straightened his patched jacket, looking back to wave at the shuttle crew with grin; the deafening whine of the shuttle engines as they throttled down drowning out the hails from the crew of Sweepers he'd hitched a ride from L2 colony with. It seemed unreal that just seven days ago, one week earth time, that he'd been in cold quiet of deep space doing haulage work on the Redemption.

Earth was completely different to space. It was noise and people and lights and smells and food. So much fuckin' food. Fresh fruits and juices, meats sizzling on the grill, dripping with flavour, fresh baked crusty bread, crispy, salty french fries and fresh creamy milk and ice creams. 

And fizzy drinks that came in actual glasses and not globules that crushed as you drank, that tickled the nose and clinked with real ice cubes made from water because fresh water was fuckin' EVERYWHERE on earth. Not a ration bar or nutrient powder or mandatory supplement pill in sight.

The air was fresh, not recycled and doors opened and stayed open and no one gave a fuckin' shit. He'd lost count at how many times he'd reached for door controls or jumped when automatic doors swished open and closed nearby. Traffic was also something he'd forgotten too. Most of the taxi ride into the city consisted of him with his face planted against the window, taking in the sights while the cabbie talked a mile a minute.

The Winner building is a monster of glass and steel, shining in the dawning sunlight like a brilliant diamond.

The elevator doors swished open and he came out of his daze, blinking the sand from his eyes. He needed sleep so bad. There was a pain in his hand, he looked down, surprised to see his cross held tightly in his hand. With a bit if effort he let go of the hand carved wooden pendant and winced as he shook out his cramped fist.

The office doors looked like they weighed a ton and swung open quieter that a church mouse's fart, revealing an opulent office that showed the Winner scion's influence so strongly it was almost as if the blonde was there himself, grinning at Duo and pulling him into a hug. But where Quatre would have stood, Barton was standing, tall and stoic as he'd been during the wars.

Barton waved the guard away and closed the big doors on the overly curious secretarial staff that manned the outer office. They spent a few moments standing in silence, studying each other. Duo fidgeted as the silence went on.

"Hey Tro- uh, I mean...Barton. Long time eh?" Duo cleared his throat, smiled and shrugged.

Green eyes narrowed minutely.

"Maxwell" his voice had deepened somewhat, but it was still as Duo remembered.

The former Heavyarms pilot calmly walked around the large table and came to a posh little bar set in the corner of the large office. He tilts a bottle of, no doubt, expensive hooch Duo's way and the Duo shakes his head a negative, surreptitiously glancing out at the early morning light as Barton pours two fingers worth into a crystal tumbler that probably worth more than Hilde pulled in a week at the yard.

The tall pilot leaned a hip against the large dark glass desk that dominated the room and took a sip of the scotch, a plain golden wedding band glinting off his long fingers. He studied the 02 pilot for a few seconds and raised a sardonic brow.

"You're looking… well."

It wasn't exactly a question.

"Heh heh." Duo flushed. "...Yeah. I do okay. I run with the Sweepers now. Got myself a ship…"

"The Redemption"

That definitely wasn't a question.

Duo forced a grin. "You seem to know an awful lot about me, Barton."

A shoulder shrug. Another sip of scotch.

"Quatre likes to keep tabs on the old crowd. He and Hilde get along like a house on fire. You wuld know this if you answered your emails once in a while Maxwell "

Duo's grin is less forced now. More sheepish. "Shit ….. Yeah. bout that... heh heh."

He nods to the wedding ring. "I heard about the wedding. Was halfway between the L5 rebuild and the Helios station when the invite came in. Thought about sending a gift but my second engine blew a gasket and wiped out my savings. I did send an email though… you know… for that. heh."

The silence stretches awkwardly. Barton has drained the tumbler and heads back to the bar for a refill. Duo rocks back on his heels with a frown as mostly steady hands slosh expensive booze into a glass like kool aid.

"So…" Duo says suddenly and a bit loudly and the bottle clinks heavily against the rim of the glass. Barton's back is tense, his entire body still. Duo gulps and the air in the room gets heavy.

"Where's the ol' Q-bean anyway? Out taking the corporate world by storm? Saving the world… one abandoned puppy at a time? I'm sure when blondie smiles those old fogies on the board just fall over themselves to make him happy. I mean… who wouldn't want to make Quatre Rebarba Winner happy? i mean he's practically got sun beams coming out of his ass."

He's babbling, he knows. it's kind of embarrassing. But he also knows that as he rambles, Barton's shoulders relax by degrees.

"He's in Sanq." Barton says, still facing away from him. "Where else would he be?"

Duo frowned at the last few muttered words. They are bitter, almost a whisper. He wouldn't even have heard them at all if years in space hadn't trained his ears to pick up the softest of noises. You never knew when the quiet fzzt of a burnt out circuit or the hiss of a ruptured hull meant imminent death.

"Sanq huh?" Duo soldiers on, plastering on a cheerful grin, "no doubt rubbing elbows with the hoi-polloi. How is lil' Miss Reeleeenaaa these days? "

He draws out the syllables of her name mockingly, yeah there's no bitterness left there at all….. Riiiight. 

"Still ruling Sanq with a velvet gloved fist?"

Barton turns and smirks knowingly at him and heat rises in his cheeks. Ok… so there is no love lost between him and little miss perfect queen of the fuckin' world but he doesn't hate her guts as much as he used to. 

Ok, he kind of DOES hate her guts as much as he always did but at least he accepts that as something he just can't change. See... Therapy does work. Thanks again Hilde.

Quatre's unavailable right now, Barton informs him, and a stone settles in his gut. He runs his hand through his bangs and closes his eyes tiredly.

"How the hell am I supposed to find Heero now?" he sighs.

"You're looking for Yuy?"

Trowa's voice is sharp and Duo tenses. His eye snap open to meet green eyes blazing with un-named emotion.

"Yeah…" Duo nods, holding in nervous breath. "Y…. You know where he is?"

Duo's heart races as he watches as some kind of conflict thrashes itself out behind green eyes which then go cold and dead as if some heavy steel shutter slams down behind them. Barton glances away, out over the waking city. When he looks back at Duo , he's completely blank. Blank liked he'd been back in the war and he'd still been Nanashi- the No Name. Back when Trowa Barton had just been a name he'd stolen from a dead man.

"I have no idea where 01 is right now."

Lie. 

Duo can feel it in his bones. He's sure that Barton is lying. Duo is the master of lies. He know how to twist words to serve whatever purpose he desired. All during the wars his motto had been "I might run and hide, but I never lie" but what he'd always added the words "… without good cause."  in his mind. He'd wanted to do right by Father Maxwell and Sister Helen but even he wasn't that naïve. He'd done what he'd had to... to survive… to fight and win. So others wouldn't have to the things he'd made himself do. All the things the Gundams had done. For freedom. For the colonies.

Before he knows it he's being escorted out of the building, his duffel shoved into his arms from wherever security had squirreled it off to. He's stands, dumbfounded, on the pavement outside WEI, head still spinning from the dismissal. Barton had all but kicked him from the room, the elevator ride down tense and so much faster that the ride up. The glass doors to the building snap shut with a sense of finality that Duo can't even begin to wrap his mind around.

Wat da frikkin' frak wazat?

The early morning commuter crush herds him down the block a bit, hard shoulders bumping into his that send him stumbling along, Swept up in the wave of human bodies on the clock. He can't seem to catch his footing as the world gets a bit blurry around the edges, the noise, the crush of human flesh against his. This is nothing like the calm quiet of space. He'd forgotten how tightly the cities were packed here on earth.

Panic rises in his throat. It's too much. Too much of everything and not enough sleep. God, he needs to sleep. A harsh shove send him tumbling and he grabs a nearby hand as he goes down heavily on his knees.

Anger sears through his body like quickening along the nerves. Hot homicidal anger. Burning like acid through his brain, bringing hot stinging tears to his eyes as he bites hard on his lips 'till bleeding to keep from screaming. His hand… his hand is burning and he wrenches it free of what he was holding with a cry. As he does so the acid heat of pure wrath stops cold, leaving him hollowed out, swallowing a sob. He brings his hand up to his tear filled eyes but they look the same. No scars save for the ones he always had.

"Watch it punk. " a harsh voice snarls above him. "Fucking bums"

There is a man standing above him, an average man in a cheap business suit. He's holding a rumpled coat and briefcase in one hand and is shaking the other loose. The wave of commuters swerve around them like an island in a rushing stream, paying them no mind in their hurry. Duo blinks up at the man, flinching back as he sees that same burning anger swirling behind the man's dark eyes. The man smirks at his flinch, muttering filthy comments about punks as he turned and strode away, disappearing into the sea of moving bodies.

Duo stares after him, hugging his duffel to his chest and trying to stop his hands from trembling, his heart from rabbiting out of his chest. What in the nine hells?

Totally confused and disoriented from lack of sleep, he staggers tiredly to his feet, stumbling into passers by, bushing against them and plunging into wave after wave of emotional backwash.

Searing, soul eating Jealousy from a beautiful young woman in a red dress.  
Filthy, Craving Lust from an silver haired business man in a grey bespoke suit.  
Utter exhaustion and fatigue from a middle aged woman in a maid's uniform.  
Sucking, sour depression from a clean cut young man with a laptop strapped to his back.

One after the other, somehow he can feel what these people are feeling along his very core like lightening. The emotions burn hot then freeze him cold, no longer needing physical touch as he breaks free from the crowd and collapses against the wall of a nearby building. He's not touching anyone yet he can still feel them as they pass, heaping their sorrow and anger and pain until it's clawing at his throat, threatening to choke him… to drown him.

He claws at his neck, desperate to breathe, keening from the pressure mounting in his brain. Oh God make it stop. He clutches at his hair as a young girl passes by, her hand gripped tight by her only parent and abuser. His breath stutters as a man walks by, in his pocket the knife he is going to use to kill his pregnant wife.

So many people. So much suffering. What happiness or love he can feel is swiftly smothered by pain. Please please please, he begs, make it stop. Make it stop. The keening in his head grows louder and louder. The pressure building and building until he's sure his head will explode. God help him. He's screaming, screaming to drown out the pain. He just needs it to all….

"STOP!"

Silence. 

Blissful silence.

His panting breaths seem loud in his ears now as he looks up from having his face buried in his arms. There are people running around frantically, they look like they are screaming but he can't hear a sound. Some are lying on the ground. Some are sitting up, weeping as they look around confused. There's a ringing in his ears that is blocking all other sound and it's all he can do to sit there and blink stupidly. His head feel wrapped in cotton and the world is starting to spin a little.

A gentle hand on his should makes him jump almost out of his skin and he spins quickly, striking out at his would be attacker. A strong hand catches his arm mid blow and he blinks up into a face he hasn't seen in years. He swallows heavily as the world kicks into a faster rotation.

The face speaks to him but he still can't hear. The face smiles at him, dark slanted eyes fond.

"Fei?" he whispers hoarsely as the world goes to black.


	3. Chapter 3

Gentle fingers card through his hair as Duo approaches wakefulness. It’s a slow and lazy climb and he snorts sleepily and flops over unto his side, burrowing his face into his warm pillow with a satisfied moan. 

The fingers stop and start again, a deep chuckle rumbles above him. Duo sighs softly and sinks deeper into the soft surface, clinging stubbornly to best sleep he'd had in weeks… months… hell, probably the best sleep he's ever had. 

With a slow, lazy and oh so decadent , full body stretch, arching his back as he digs his socked toes into the cushioned surface he laying on, blinking sleepily and smacking his lips as he takes in his surroundings. The room is bright and airy, cozy with plush furnishings and warm colours. Open windows let in sunlight and cool breeze that make the sheer curtains dance. 

He is on the plush sofa, covered in a soft cream coloured suede that he can't stop running his hands and socked feet over, practically wriggling like a fish in his glee. A deep chuckle rumbles above him once more and he blinks up at the source and smiles widely.

"Hey Sexy Zechsy." he chimes, half drunk off of the best sleep he's had in forever.

The blonde smiles fondly down at him, fingers brush through his fringe and against his forehead in a whisper soft touch as Duo rubs his cheeks against the older man's thigh. He realizes his head is resting on the lap of his once hated enemy but frankly, he can't think of a single reason why he should move an inch from that spot.

"Hello Duo."

Zechs Merquise's voice is velvet covered sex and Duo all but melts at the sound. He just feels so fuckin' good. Almost too good as a matter of fact.

"Did you drug me Sexy?" He wrinkles his brow and pouts cutely. "You're a Bad bad Sexy"

The normally solemn Marquise barks a laugh, startled and genuine and Duo preens as the warm fingers return to his hair. 

"Never change Duo" The Tallgeese pilot smiles.

There's a dip in the couch near his feet and he looks down, a warm calloused hand rests on his hip.

"Hey Fei Fei" Duo giggles, reaching up to brush his clumsy fingertips against the rough stubble of Chang Wufei's sharp chin. "I think Zechsy's trying to have his wicked way with me. "

Dark eyes sparkle as strong hands prop the 02 pilot upright on the sofa until he is sitting between the two men. He sags back against Zechs's broad chest, wondering idly why he's not freaking out as much as he normally would be. He hasn't seen these men in years and one of them had tried to blow up the world. 

The last thing he remembers is looking up into Wufei's coffee coloured eyes as he cowered against the building in pain. He'd just left the WEI building when he'd had the attack. He didn't know how else to describe it. And all those people, the ones who were running and screaming. What had become of them? As the thoughts and memories come, they drift away just as fast and he simply blinks the memory away, drawing the soft, mellow vibe around him like a cloak.

He turns into the taller blonde man and buries his nose in the warmth of the other man's neck, inhaling deeply. A small part of his brain flails at how he's clinging to Zechs like a limpet but he can't seem to cobble together a fuck to give about it.

"...and why do you smell so fuckin' good Zechsy?" he moans. 

A childish giggle pulls him up short and he jerks his head up quickly to see a pair of joy filled blue eyes just on the other side of Zechs' broad chest.

"what the fuck…. Zechsy? When did you get a mini me?"

The little girl giggled again, bouncing blonde curls frame her face as she shyly tucks it into the blond man's shoulder, peeking at Duo with brilliant baby blues. She's utterly adorable and he says so with a little bit of awe. 

"Language Maxwell" Wufei is a solid comfort against his back and he turns to the former Shenlong Pilot. 

Gone is the stern countenance he knew from during the wars, the painfully tight ponytail at the base of the skull, the spotless white traditional garb. Wufei's hair is wild and thick and hangs to his shoulders in a thick mane. His clothes are raw natural fibers and soft un-dyed knit ware. 

"Sorry Fei…" Duo says softly, fiddling with the end of his braid. He turns back to the little girl with a shy smile, "Sorry Mini Zechs."

The girl giggles, cupping a small hand over his mouth as Zechs gently prods her over to the hearth rug where she has colouring books and crayons spread around her like a fan. He watches, mesmerized as she spends long seconds carefully selecting the right shade from the biggest box of crayons Duo had ever seen and settles down to the serious business of colouring; biting her lip in concentration.

The words tumble from his lips in a whisper. "How did you know that I was in trouble?

Wufei's hand is rubbing the small of Duo's back and the last of his tensions fall away. 

"You are always in some kind of trouble Maxwell?" Wufei chuckles. Duo turns to him, stricken.

"No foolin' Fei. Please. You saved me back there. I was drownin'. How did you know where to find me?"

"He didn't" Zechs' velvet bass rumbles against his neck. "I told him where to find you."

At Duo's unspoken question, he takes the braided pilot's hand and places it against his own chest.

"I felt you calling for me… in here"

Duo glances down at where his hand lays. He can feel the older man's steady heartbeat thump beneath his palm. "Like Quatre's Heart of Space?"

Zechs gives him a wry grin. "Something like that." 

"Duo..." Wufei gently tilts his chin to face him. "Have you been having the dreams?"

Suddenly something cold and dark cracks apart deep inside Duo's mind. Tears spring unbidden to his violet eyes and before he knows it he is sobbing in earnest, arms on each side of him holding him as he shakes. Words fall from his mouth and he can't seem to stop them or keep them in. he tells them everything, every thing he's been keeping inside for fear of losing himself to the dreams. 

His voice goes hoarse as emotions surge and fade like the tide within him faster than he can handle and he can't seem to find an anchor. He's been barely treading water for so long. Every night the dreams waiting to pull him under one last time. He's been so scared for so long he can't remember what it was like not to be.

"What the fu… heck is going on with me Wu?" he pleads, gripping the soft material of Chang's sleeve. "What is wrong with me?"

They keep holding him, soothing him as his tears subside and he calms, sagging against the others. After a while soft touches and fingertips guide him gently to the nearby kitchen and situate him on a stool at the large wood block centre island, where he sits, mute as Zechs bustles around the warm and welcoming, almost rustic kitchen, laughing and chatting with his daughter, who he introduced as Ilora, as he makes her a sandwich.

"Like the Princess from the old earth movie Willow" she exclaims brightly, her legs swinging gaily as she perches on the stool next to his, her tanned bare feet and knobby knees jutting out from under a light summer frock.

They feed him fresh bruscetta, the garlic and tomato bursting over his tongue like a sunrise. Fresh lemonade, with crushed sprigs of mint and ice that catches the light and dances in his glass. Shaved ices mixed with crushed frozen berries follow and the gentle hands settle him into a overstuffed chair. He pulls his knees up to his chest, and lets the murmur of their conversation flow over him as he rests his head on his folded arms. 

The deep velvet of Zechs interspersed with the bright bubbly notes of Ilora fall upon his ears like a lullaby. He feels empty, but not in a bad way, just hollow… as if he's waiting for something. Words flitter in and out of his consciousness like tiny butterflies and he doesn't feel the need to say any of them out loud. There's no urge to fill the quiet with words. He quite content to sit and listen to the house around him as time ticks by. Him… Motor mouth Maxwell. The Scourge of Silence. Go figure.

When he is ready to be in the world again night has fallen. The giant fireplace blazes happily along, and the room is awash in it's golden glow. Ilora has long been tucked into bed and it's just the three of them now. Zechs long frame is stretched out on the sofa, a fantasy novel in his hand. Wufei is sitting catty corner to the fire, a laptop and several papers spread out in front of him just as Ilora's own pages had been earlier.

As if feeling Duo's gaze, the former Shenlong pilot looks up over the silver rimmed glasses perch low on his nose. He looks at Zechs, who gives Duo a searching look and then nods at Wufei, carefully placing a child's hair ribbon within the pages of his novel as a book mark and setting it on the side table.

Wufei walks back into the room, startling Duo a bit. He hadn't even realized Wufei had left. He hands a cloth wrapped object to the tall blond and quickly packs his papers and laptop into a dark leather case.  
Zechs pats the cushion next to him and Duo, after hesitating for a second, eels out of his chair and over to the couch. Wufei soon joins them and soon Duo is sandwiched between them.

Reverent and nimble fingers unwrap the cloth to reveal an ancient manuscript. It is worn and crinkled with age, the front cover is all but gone and the spine is cracked in several places. The words look familiar but nothing that Duo can recognize easily. He can just make out the date.

"19…. 99?" Duo gasps. "but that's…"

"Before Colony. Yes" Wufei confirms. "I found this in my clan's secret archive. A mining asteroid near L5's orbit. They'd moved much of their history there before the self destruct. So that one day future generations could learn of us and know."

"Aw Shit, Wu" 

Duo placed the tips of his fingers against Wufei's arm, a small thrill of grief snaked across his skin before it was swiftly crushed. Zechs's hand came to cover his and he relaxed once again. 

Wufei blinked suspiciously wet eyes and nodded, tracing his finger tips against the paper.

"The words just here…it's German. Pre Colony Language. It says- Der Sentinel – Im Auge des Jägers"

"Yay-gers?" Duo frowned.

"It means- The Sentinel - In the eye of the hunter" Zechs' velvet at his ear made him shiver. 

Or maybe it was the way the word 'sentinel' struck a cord that thrummed like a plucked guitar string. His breath quickened in his chest. He was on the cusp of something big. On the edge of a knife. Just beyond the door lay his future. But to open that door meant that he would never be able to close it again.

"You guys…" he leaned back against the couch so that he could look at them both "What is this really?"

The other men were silent for a moment, staring at each other and having some kind of non verbal communication. After a bit, Wufei nodded to Zechs and the both turned to Duo as one.

"It's the real reason I came back from Mars." Zechs murmurs.

Wufei laces his fingers with Zechs'. "It's also the real reason I joined up with Mariemaia Khushrenada"

It is all Duo can do not to gape at them both. "The fuck you say?"

Zechs chuckles and settles back into the couch. He runs gentle fingers through Duo's hair and the pilot all but melts into his side as the taller blonde begins to speak. 

"Let me tell you a little story about how I finally came back to earth. You see… it all started when I started having these dreams…."


	4. Chapter 4

It takes them two pots of hot chocolate to get the whole story out. The really good kind; dark, rich and creamy with the tiny marshmallows that Duo remembers from their times at the many safe houses during the first war. 

If anything, Wufei has gained mastery of the skill over the years because the first sip takes him instantly back to the chilly nights between missions when the five pilots sat in front of whatever heat source they had and stumbled cautiously toward friendship, or at least comradery in any case.

Duo leans against the balcony railing, his hands wrapped around the warm ceramic cup. The breeze is warm off the nearby coast and he could just see the greying skies of predawn peeking on the horizon. The grain of the wooden deck felt good against his bare feet. warm and grounding him in reality as he silently processed what the men behind him had spent most of the night explaining.

Zechs had been having the dreams. Guide Dreams is the term they used, his mind supplies helpfully. Anyhoo… Zechs had been dreaming since he was a boy in Sanq. Granted, the dreams had been few and far between so he'd hidden them of course, shrugging them off as some kind of manifestation of extra sensory perception as the Peacecrafts' had a legacy of that sort of thing in the royal bloodline for centuries. 

It wasn't until he and Noin had returned from Mars for the birth of their daughter that things had started to kick into high gear. The moment he'd set foot on the third planet from Sol, the dreams had ramped up from fleeting grainy images to full on HD technicolour and digital surround sound.

For a while there he'd thought that he'd finally been going insane. After a difficult delivery he and a slowly recovering Noin eventually made the decision to stay on earth for a few more years and he'd joined the Preventers. 

For months he worked mission after mission, mostly at his desk, taking care of newborn Ilora while Noin recovered from the birthing and a severe case of post partum depression. He'd been just holding his life and family together by threads when one fateful day, he came face to face with the only other ex-Gundam pilot within Preventer ranks. 

Wufei had been scarcely seen at Preventer HQ since the Eve Wars, opting to go on long solo missions that keep him away for weeks, sometimes months; trying to figure out what had driven him to the Barton Foundation and Mariemaia Kushrenada in the first place. 

He'd always been a scholar, it had been his calling from a very young age. He'd been on track to becoming the Clan's philosopher and historian before he'd been taken up the role as Shenlong's pilot after the death of his betrothed. His family archives had been his playground in childhood and after the war he'd gathered as much as he could find of them. 

Soon after, buried among the old dusty tomes of times long gone, he found an almost overlooked, previously half-translated reference to the Sentinels of old. Guardians they had called them, the  
Jiānhùrén 監護人. The hunter protectors of the tribe. 

Heightened senses, increased strength and stamina, often with varying levels of empathy. During times of crisis, along with a companion shaman called a 'Guide' or Zhǐdǎo 指導, these Sentinels would 'come online' in order to protect the tribe and lead them to safety.

But the archives could only tell him a little about what he believed was happening to him. Becoming a Preventer, he'd been granted access to, or a means to get access to classified government and military files. It had been a whole new world of information.

The most recent records Wufei could find of them was some obscure publications a few yeas before the dawn of the age of the colonies and the 'world wars' that savaged that time. Dusty old military files revealed top secret projects looking into the sentinel phenomenon and their use as a new kind of super soldier. 

Sentinels and guides in the hands of people like Oz, or worse yet… Romerfeller. Duo shuddered at the thought. 

Still reeling from these discoveries, Wufei began piecing together the puzzle of his burgeoning abilities. He'd always been sharp eyed but over the years the rest of his senses had started fluctuating. His senses of smell, taste, hearing and touch would waver wildly from one side of the spectrum to the other. It was only his vast experience with meditation and the martial arts teachings of his clan that kept him functional on some days. 

Add to that an increasing amount of dreams that pulled at his core and a extra 'sixth sense' that he'd honed during the wars, that 'gut feeling' he'd always had. Soon enough Wufei figured out what had drawn him to the Barton foundation during the Eve Wars. 

"Trieze carried the Guide gene. Latent. But it passed down to Mariemaia who proved just as charismatic as her late father." Zechs explained, kissing the back of Wufei's hand softly.

Then, in the middle of Une's offce, Preventer Wind and Preventer Fire came face to face for the first time in years and the world snapped into place like the last satisfying piece of a 5000 piece puzzle. The 'bond' between them had snapped into place instantly, setting both men on their asses from the force upon both their minds.

"I felt it to my very soul." Wufei murmured, turning to press a chaste kiss upon the blond man's lips, "it was like every empty place in my heart was filled and I was complete at long last."

But all was not happy ever after just yet. Zechs was still married with a newborn child and Lucrezia Noin didn't take too kindly to the situation as a whole. But the bond was too strong and neither man could stand to be away from the other for as long as life seemed to want to demand of them. Even with Une on their side, as she'd been privy to classified records of past Oz experimentation under Treize, their time at the preventers did not last for much longer.

Noin could not abide sharing her man with another, not again. At least with Trieze she didn't have to worry because he was dead and gone. But Wufei? He was alive and kicking and she still hated his guts from their first battle where he'd defeated her and her men soundly, calling her a weak 'onna' as her mobile suit fell, rendered useless by Shenlong's claws. This apparently was the final straw. She filed for divorce soon after and left for Sanq with a hefty settlement, leaving Zechs and Ilora behind without a second glance. 

Zechs' Guide skills manifested themselves with an extra sensory perception and a level of empathic awareness that far exceeded anything anyone had seen in decades. The few doctors Sally Po had allowed to view medical records had gone gaga over the genetic testing results, only Zechs' status as a Peacecraft had kept him from being conscripted into a battery of tests by Une's command. 

They left the Preventers soon after, chafing under new and ever increasing restrictions Command and Medical had begun laying down because of their changed situation. 

"So when you say 'empathic awareness " Duo turned and leaned back against the railing with a raised brow, "was that why I was so mellow this morning ? Zechs… did you put a whammy on me?"

The blonde man was leaning against the doorway unto the balcony, his long blond hair falling like a curtain around his shoulders and broad back. Wufei was perched on one of the wooden benches that filled the small seating area, one leg tucked up under him. They were both barefoot and showed no sign of tension or deception. Duo could pick up feelings of trust and genuine caring coming from the two. Zechs almost 'projecting' a sense of warmth and home that if he gave himself half a chance, he would sink into and forget the world for a while.

"Not so much a 'whammy' per say…" Zechs chuckled. "...your mind had been stressed to such a point where it was starting to affect you physically in a negative way. All I did was to put a emotional buffer around your psyche so that you could rest and recover in peace. "

"Can you do that with anyone?" Duo frowned, "Make them feel what you want them to feel?"

Zechs shifted, frowning. "I can. But I don't. Forcing myself unto a person's psyche is akin to rape in my book. I've done a lot of bad things. Things I regret deeply but being a Guide is a gift beyond measure that has been entrusted to me, just like my daughter. To use it in such a manner, to hurt someone intentionally is abhorrent to me. Besides…"

He smiles as he looks at Wufei then looks calmly back at Dup.

"… being bonded to Wufei came with an unshakable sense of ethics and honour that to act against that would put me at odds with my Sentinel. And that is something I would never allow."

"So…" Duo smirked slyly. "… using your gifts to do wrong would be an…. Injustice?"

He says it with such a straight face that it takes a second or two before Wufei growls deep in his chest.

"Maxwell!"

Duo just laughs and laughs.

Breakfast is fluffy, yummy muffins with eggs and crispy bacon. Hot coffee with sweet cream and orange juice freshly squeezed as the sun rises with a blaze over the nearby ocean. A sleepy Ilora is set up with a bowl of brightly coloured cereal and milk which she keeps nodding off into, spoon half ways into her mouth.

Duo is marched off to shower and change. He ends up gaping at the multi headed shower for a good five minutes before quickly ripping off his clothes and stepping in. By the Gods, the water is exquisite. 

Just standing under the jets, hot water sluicing over his tired body, is the closest to orgasm he's been in a long while. His mind has just been too stressed and his sex drive had pretty much dwindled to nothing in the past months. He is pleasantly surprised when a familiar heat coils deep in his belly and his hand slips further down. 

Almost an hour later, he emerges from the bathroom with a cloud of steam, wrinkled as a prune and feeling clean enough to sqeak. A fluffy towel hangs around his waist, a larger one wrapped around his head as he squeezes extra water from his long hair. Another towel is held in a georgie bundle, holding all the picks, blades and accoutrements for mayhem he usually keeps in his trade mark braid. He drops that bundle on top of the duffel that sits at the foot of his bed and looks around the room. 

He feels a twinge of guilt for using up all of the expensive looking guest shampoo and conditioner on his chestnut locks, grimacing at the massive group coronary the water monitors back on L2 would have had if they tracked how much water points he 'd docked for that shower alone. 

But this was earth and they'd cracked the mystery of clean safe water as a renewable resource long ago. Too bad those same plans could never get off the ground in the floating tin cans in the sky they called the colonies. In some of the L3 and L4 stations, stories were often told of water poachers and of homeless people and runaways being harvested off the streets for the water in their bodies. Duo gave his hair one last squeeze and shuddered. Thank God shit like that never picked up popularity in L2.

With a shake of his hair, Duo ignored the duffel of clothes at the foot of his bed and did a running jump unto the soft down comforter with an 'oof', moaning as he dug his face further into the cool pillows. He wiggled a bit, searching for that one good spot then melted into the sheets with a sigh, totally blissed out.

Time passed indeterminately and soon there was a knock on his door. He blinked an eye open as the knocking came again.

"Nargleflarb" he moaned at the door, turning his face to press his other cheek into the cool pillow.

Before he could really register what was going on the door clicked and swung open.

"Maxwell. You've been in here a long whi-….. ."

"Wufei!" Duo shrieked, scrambling to pull the small damp towel over his modesty, all signs of sleep suddenly gone. "What the hell dude? I'm starkers here! No body taught you to knock"

The Chinese man folded his arms across his chest and raised a sarcastic brow.

"Oh please, I did knock…. and it's not like I haven't seen any of that before. I seem to remember clearly our first rainstorm on earth and a certain L2 pilot thinking that the sounds of thunder were mortar shells from OZ and ran out into the storm, naked as a jay bird, in order to get to his buddy Deathscythe."

He tapped a finger against his chin mock thoughtfully as Duo choked on spit.

"You came back at dawn covered in mud and twigs like some mythical fawn out of an sunlit enchanted forest . I honestly thought Yuy was going to jump your bones right there on the safe house porch, mission be damned. "

Duo felt a blush burns across his entire face like wildfire, spreading down his neck and chest. He's sure that someone could fry an egg on his cheeks that very minute.

Just beyond Wufei's shoulder, he could just make out Zechs, coming down the hallway probably to investigate the noise, stop with a startled look on his face then spin on his toes and execute a hasty retreat.

"WE VOWED NEVER TO SPEAK OF THAT NIGHT AGAIN CHANG!" 

He throws one of the bed's pillows at the smirking sentinel, who dodges the soft missile easily. 

"Jerk." Duo growls darkly, "Besides… what're u jibberjabbin' 'bout Heero? It was so obvious that he hated my fuckin' guts back then."

"Did he really?" Wufei counters. "… because the hunger I saw in his eyes that morning made me think he was interested in showing you his Buster Canon all up close and personal, if you know what I mean. "

He gives Duo an exaggerated wink that has him gaping. 

"There was so much UST there that Quatre could not even look at either of you for days without bursting into flame. Both Heero and Quatre almost came to blows over the very next mission sent by the Mad 5. Though their reasons for wanting to get out of there were completely different of course. It was all very hilarious."

Duo could only sputter. "Who are you and what have you done with Wufei "Stick up the butt" Chang?"

Wufei's throws his head back to laugh and Duo half wonders if that last question was really in jest. This man is so different from the boy he knew so long ago. It's a bit startling, seeing Wu-bear so loose and relaxed, interacting with Zechs and Ilora on such a domestic level. It makes Duo feel warm and gooey inside. He is happy that his friend has such an awesome family. His Fei Fei deserved it.

"Get dressed and get out here..." Wufei kicks the mattress, "There's more we need to tell you then you can sleep for as long as you want. Five minutes Maxwell."

Duo makes an exasperated sound and holds up his loose damp hair.

"Fine. Ten Minutes." the chinese man closes the door as he quickly slips out, cutting off any protest.

"Still a fuckin' jerk though. Smug bastard" he mutters under his breath, flops back unto the bed with a gusty sigh, rubbing a hand on his still heated face.

"I heard that." echoes down the hall, startling the 02 pilot.

"FUCK YOU CHANG!" 

Fuckin' enhanced hearing. 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A pair of old jeans, faded almost white, a thread bare grey tank and hair hastily brushed and braided takes him just under ten minutes and he flips a grinning Wufei off when he steps into the study. The room is different from the rest of the house. Shiny dark wood dominates most of the furnishings without being austere and large old and expensive looking books cover almost every perceivable surface.

A large ornate desk is off to one side and that is where Zechs is, sitting in a large plush chair as Wufei Stands at his shoulder. The desk is pretty clear except for the gorgeous computer system that is set to one side of it. A large green leather writing blotter and matching pen holder are only other occupants.  
Well, other than the manila binder Zechs has opened in front of him.

Duo runs finger tips over the carved wood, glimpses of emotion from various Peacecraft ancestors who sat in that very spot flashing behind his eyelids. The history, the loyalty, the pride of place and utter love that passed from generation to generation vibrate from the desk as if they been inlaid into the very wood, layer by layer… year after year, generation by generation.

He pulls in a deep ragged breath, tears springing to his eyes as he feel a pulse of paternal affection that he's somehow certain came from Zechs' dad, the Late King. There is a warm hand on his cheek, someone is calling his name. He blinks his eyes open, the tears that were trapped there falling forgotten down his cheeks, wiped away by gentle thumbs.

Zechs's forget me not blue eyes stare into his and Duo gives a trembling sigh as the taller man pulls him against his broad chest for a hug, sagging as the emotional buffer that Zechs seems to emit so naturally, soothes him. 

"Sorry 'bout that…" he blushes when is finally able to push away. "the desk… it's kinda…"

"Intense?" Zechs lets him pull away, ignoring that it takes a few seconds for Duo to truly relax. "...this desk has been in my family for generations. It has absorbed a lot emotional output over the years."

"Do all things react like that? Do you have to wear gloves or something?" Duo worried.

Zechs shook his head to the negative. "only certain objects, intensely personal ones, can emit like that. Objects that spend a great amount of time with a person or something that hold great emotional significance. This was my father's desk at the palace for years before his passing. Trieze acquired it for me when we retook Sanq."

"So that's why Papa Peacecraft is so strong on that thing. That was really somethin' else." 

"My father always was a very passionate man." Zechs admits haltingly, eyes going shadowed as he looks up at Wufei, who squeezed his shoulder briefly.

"Shit. I'm sorry Zechs…" Duo begins but the blond waves him off with a small smile.

"There's something we need to tell you..." Wufei begins. "… just after Zechs and I bonded, we did some genetic testing. Trying to find out more of what was happening to the both of us. All I had was a few old records and my 'gut'. Zechs only had the dreams. We needed to know more so we reached out to a couple of others who we thought could help."

"I reached out to Relena…"Zechs admitted, grimacing at the face Duo makes, "… I know how you feel about her. I feel the same way but as ruler of Sanq she had access to our family's historical records. Plus, Noin told her everything anyway when she moved to Sanq after the divorce despite sighing a NDA with the Preventers."

Duo frowns in sympathy. And wasn't that a full glass of Hell Hath No Fury juice.

"I called in Quatre" Wufei continued from where the blond left off. "His Space Heart came very close to what the records described as Guide abilities. Also, his labs were much better and faster at genetic testing than anything the preventers had at the time."

"Genetic testing?" Duo sits up from his sprawl, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "You said something before about Sentinel and Guide gene markers. What is that about?"

Wufei passes him a thin report from within the large binder and speaks as Duo flips through it.

"We found a specific genome within DNA that is somewhat of a flag for potential sentinels and guides. People who posses this marker should have the ability to become 'online' or pass the gene down to their offspring. Since then we've found no one without the specific marker who's ever shown any sign of developing these extra abilities."

Duo can only stare in horror at the two men as the implications hit. He looks at Zechs's serious face.

"They tested Ilora soon after she was born. I forbid it but her… mother gave them permission. She has the guide marker. She has the potential to come online as a guide when she grows up."

Holy shit motherfuck. 

One little test was all it would take. One little drop of blood. If they could test babies for the marker, who knows what they could do to them. Take them, train them, use them to do all sorts of things Duo can't even begin to imagine. His horror must show plainly on his face because Wufei continues.

"All of the testing was done in secret at Winner Labs, only Sally and Une being privy to the end results. Quatre thought the same as you. He didn't want the results to get out ever. That information was way too dangerous not to keep under wraps. He's seen first hand was genetic manipulation is capable. Hell, just look at his twenty nine sisters. More than a few of them have developed mental and physical problems in recent years, a lot of that stemming from being test tube babies."

"Through Quatre, we were able to get all of the Gundam pilots tested. And if you're wondering how we got you DNA when you were slinging across space in the Redemption, Hilde still had some of your effects and we were able to get a viable sample from that."

Duo frowned at that. But he was no stranger to having his privacy invaded like that. Doctor G had put him through a battery of tests soon after he became Deathscythe's pilot. It had been invasive as hell but his goal was to STAY Deathscythe's pilot so he'd gritted his teeth and sat through them all.

"What was the result?" he shrugged.

"Trieze was a latent guide and Mariemaia after him. Zechs and Quatre also had the guide marker. Both Yuy and I have the sentinel marker. Even Relena got tested because of the Peacecraft legacy. Turns out she has the guide marker but its not as strong as Zechs'."

"Trowa?"

"Trowa's null. No marker."

"But he and q-bean are hitched?" Duo was confused.

Zechs exhaled. " Guides can live full lives without ever finding a Sentinel to match them, according to the old records. Sentinels are rare and there are more guide markers than sentinel. Quatre can have a full and happy life but there will always be that missing piece inside of him that will never be filled in. It's a biological imperative on Quatre's part, as much as he loves Barton. Trowa will just have to live with that knowledge."

"Poor Q. Maybe that's why Barton looked so wrecked when I saw him. Knowing Quatre could never be truly content with him because of some fucked up genetic thing. After everything they've been through together."

"That's part of the reason that we've become concerned over the past year or so. Quatre has been spending more and more time at the Winner offices in Sanq and Trowa seems to be on some kind of downward spiral. The last time I was close enough to get a read on him emotional I nearly passed out from the backlash. Wufei had to drag me from the room."

Zechs stands and walks over to the large picture window, looking out, eyes unseeing, over the beautiful enclosed flower garden below, where ilora is romping merrily on the grass .

"That was close to a year ago. I haven't been in a room with Barton since then… I just can't. Two months ago we visited my sister in Sanq for Ilora's birthday and Barton wasn't there, thank God, but both Quatre and Relena were putting out such frightening vibes that we didn't stay for very long. All I could think of was getting Ilora away from there before they infected her like they were starting to get to me."

"Infected? What do you mean by that?"

"Not in a physical sense per say but there was something in them both that I could feel getting stronger and stronger. Something dark and scary that threaded through all of their emotions. Quatre believed he was shielding them both so well. We never told them about the true level of my abilities. He just assumed, because of his Heart of Space, that he was stronger than me and we let him think so. "

Wufei perched on the edge of the giant desk. His face deadly serious. "If they knew how strong Zechs really is, attention would fall on Ilora. We don't want that at all. We want to protect her as much as we can from this for as long as we can."

"Did you ever figure out what it was that was growing stronger?" Duo asks softly, intrigued.

Zechs turns from the window, his face a shadow against the bright sunlight shining in.

"Hunger." his deep voice, little more than a murmur in the giant room, sending a chill down Duo's spine.

"A deep ravenous hunger."


	5. Chapter 5

Duo meditates with Wufei out on the deck, explores the reach of his burgeoning Guide abilities with Zechs in the garden and plays tea party with Ilora when things get too intense. He sleeps more restfully that ever before. 

He unwinds by degrees within the sanctuary Zechs and Wufei provide with the strength of their bond. It's safe and welcoming and Duo can let the walls of his mind crumble while he builds newer ones, better ones. Stronger ones.

He reaches a little further with his senses every try, doing the exercises Zechs teaches him to shield himself mentally. Breathing exercises and calming techniques to settle his often manic thoughts; building complex mindscapes to structure and protect his mind.

After a day of checking his defenses against Zechs' careful probing, running kata with Wufei out on the deck and romping with Ilora, playing dragon to her brave knight in an awesome blanket fort that takes up half the living room, he flops into bed, exhausted and is asleep as his head hits the pillow.

And wakes up screaming his head off.

Zechs thunders into the room, wrapping strong arms around him, guide sense stretching out to surround his fracturing mindscape as the screams taper off and is replaced by harsh sobbing. Duo clings to the taller man desperately, trembling violently. 

Out of the corner of his eye he can see glimpses of Wufei comforting a scared and weepy Ilora. Guilt crashes through him and he presses his tear streaked face against the blond's broad shoulder, keening brokenly.

It's a while before he can even speak. Zechs is sitting up against the headboard, Duo tucked under his arm like a frightened child. Somewhere in the house Wufei is making hot chocolate, judging from the aroma down the hall.

"It's Heero…" Duo's sobs are just a whisper, "…. He's alone. It's so dark. So cold. He's scared."

He doesn't stop weeping until the sun is climbing the heavens outside his window. He feels turned inside out, upside down and around until he can't see straight. Tears running unnoticed down his face as he loses his voice altogether and can only tremble in Zechs and Wufei's arms. 

The hot chocolate sits cold on the side table as voices murmur above his head. Duo's guide dreams are much stronger, pulling him to his sentinel, there is no other explanation. The only thing now is to find where Yuy is and save him from the darkness.

Duo's voice breaks and creaks as he grips Wufei's arm tightly, turning bloodshot violet eyes to meet dark brown, almost black ones that almost burn with protectiveness.

"Sanq…. He's in Sanq."

Wufei nods solemnly and turns to Zechs. "Sanq."

Zechs's lips become a thin pale line and he too nods, oddly resigned.

"Sanq it is then."

 

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

It takes a couple hours but soon they are on a private helicopter, on their way to Sanq kingdom. They don't want to alert Relena and the others of their arrival. It had been recently discovered that Relena had Zechs' travel records flagged in a somewhat blatant abuse of her authority as Regent. The tracking went back to just after the bonding and subsequent divorce so Wufei mused that Noin may have had a hand in it as well. 

Duo ponders absently in his thoughts about Wufei's sensitive hearing against the Helo's propellers and it must have been evident on his face because Zechs murmurs into his hair above his ears about the sensory 'dials' that sentinels utilize to regulate their senses. Across the small compartment, Wufei glances at them every few seconds, an excited Ilora strapped in next to him, gazing out of the window.

Duo remembers him doing that during missions too. Glancing up briefly from his ever present book at the others, doing a quick sight check to make sure that everyone was present and unbothered. Situation normal. Moving on.

From the hotel's landing pad they are hustled into a well appointed suite. The concierge knows them by name and swears absolute discretion. Duo finds a large arm chair and curls up in it, his throat still hurts from the screaming and his eyes are gritty. He dare not try to sleep again, the darkness waited for him the second he closed his eyes. His heart aches keenly for Heero. Wherever he was… he was alone and cold and terrified. A hot tear slips down his cheek and he rubs it away with his jacket sleeve.

He's wearing his black on black outfit from the wars. His hand carved wooden cross hanging against his chest, replacing the gold plated one he'd taken from Sister Helen's dead body. That one had been lost on an God awful mission and he'd been beside himself after he'd come down from the battle high. He'd stopped talking for two straight days and the other pilots had not known how to deal with silent shinigami.

After days of Duo walking around the safe house like a zombie, Heero had stomped up to him and pressed the wooden cross into his palm. The hand carving was sloppy in places, the small cuts on Heero's hands healing already. He'd looked up into gunmetal blue eyes and they'd stayed like that for what seemed like ages. 

Finally, Duo gave him a watery smile, clasping the cross in his palm against his chest, just over his heart. A real smile. Not the wide manic ones he usually wore but a private one, just for Heero.

The Wing pilot had nodded, his pale cheeks colouring, then spun on his heels and stalked away. That night as the pilots sat for dinner, Duo had been his normal cheerful self, wooden cross laced on a thin leather against his heart underneath his shirt. The others had been relieved and as they talked and laughed around the table, Duo mouthed a 'thank you', smiling widely when Heero nodded and grunted a reply.

He curls his fingers around the wooden cross, watching as Zechs tips the hotel concierge and then they are alone. Zechs comes to squat next to his chair, fingers brush against his chestnut fringe gently.

"How are you're levels?" 

Duo is eternally grateful that Zechs didn't ask him how he was 'feeling'. That may have just been the final straw. Besides, he was probably pouring his emotions over the pair like a fuckin' tsunami.

"More like a furness actually" Wufei's words startle him. He must have been thinking out loud. "The anger coming off of you now is oppressive, stifling and it hurts to breath. You need to put Shinigami back in his box. You won't be able to think clearly with all that rage."

"Rage?" Duo frowns. "I feel numb. And cold."

Zechs shakes his head. "Your shields are down. All of your shields. You haven't let Shinigami out to play in so long. I've never heard of a guide going feral but this is the closest I've ever seen. Duo is receding and the God of Death is emerging. And he is angry and wants what is his."

"Heero." Duo breathes the name like a prayer.

"Yes Heero. Shinigami wants Yuy and it will burn the city to get to his sentinel. You have to pull him back. You need to think clearly. Duo you need to do this now. Right now."

"But… I don't know how" his head was pounding, his blood racing in his veins.

"You have to try. Think of the lessons we did. The techniques. Start doing them, one at a time."

"what… what if I can't?" his breath catches in his throat.

"Then Shinigami will rip through any and everything it meets to get to Heero. Including Wufei and me… and our daughter."

Ice crackles up his spine like the lash of a whip. He HAS to try. He is NOT the Shinigami. It is but a weapon he wields. He is Duo, beget of Solo, son to Father Maxwell, brother to Sister Helen. Stealer of Deathscythe, Gundam Pilot, Friend, Lover, Brother, Survivor, Guide. 

Guide to a sentinel who needs him. Who needs him to get his shit together RIGHT FUCKIN' NOW.

Duo no baka. Duo no kuso baka.

 

Watashi wa shidesu. I am death.

Watashi wa yamidesu. I am darkness.

Watashi wa watashi no teki gata ni wazawai shite imasu. I am woe unto mine enemy.

Watashi wa Shinigami da.

May God have mercy on their souls.

He breathes out, then in and slowly looks up, violet eyes sharp and a smile that's little bit wicked.

"Ninmu Ryokai"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

They need intel. He knows Heero is in Sanq but unless they want to roam the street playing 'Hot Hot Cold" then they need a plan. They make him eat what he can and drink some tea to sooth his throat. Zechs tries leading Duo through some reaching exercises but it's of no use. They don't really have any other choice. They have to go to the palace. 

Zechs and Wufei argue behind him about the wisdom of that move while Duo stares out of the picture window. It doesn't matter much because Duo knows deep within him that Relena is the key to finding Heero. There is really no other choice.

There is a knock on the door and they all freeze. Wufei stalks to the door like a jungle cat, breathing deep as he approaches. He tilts his head to the side for a few moments. 

He opens the door cautiously and a young girl slips in. She is dressed like a teeny-bopper, an odd mixture of bright clothes that the young people are wearing now. She rips off the baggy knitted hat and reveals a head of vibrant crimson locks.

"Marie" his voice is stern. "You came here alone? Where is your security detail? Were you followed here? You could have been taken. Is Henderson still the lead on your team? That Incompetent bastard."

"Dragon!" She smiles easily at Wufei and glomps him, wrapping both arms and legs around him, trusting him to hold her up. "… still breathing fire and terrorizing the villages I see. And here I thought Daddy Warbucks would mellow you out some. Wishful thinking on my part I guess."

Zechs breaths out a put upon sigh and Wufei's face turns a shade of puce that Duo swore only he could make it do. 

"You do know Daddy Warbucks was bald right?"

The redhead tosses her hair, shrugging off the bulky striped jacket, revealing a mish mash of clothes layered over one another. Jeez, teen fashion these days.

"Well I know you detest Milliardo so I went from 'Milli' to 'Milli Vanilli' to 'Million Bucks' to 'Daddy Warbucks'. It's because you're filthy stinking rich and I'm an adorable plucky redhead that you take under your wing. See it all fits…."

She spins to face Wufei "… and OF COURSE I came alone. No one does security like you Dragon. These latest guys are laughable at best. It's a wonder that Une hasn't implanted a subcutaneous tracker on me yet for how much I give them the slip. "

"I mentioned it more that once…" Wufei smirks "… Une shot me down every time."

"Fuh-nee" she flops unto the couch, spotting Duo by the window. "You're new. 02?"

Duo raises an eyebrow. "huh.. you like to rhyme"

She grins "...from time to time"

That startles a laugh from him, breaking the last of the pall that had hung over his mood.

"I like you."

Mariemaia Khushrenanda preens.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

They install Mariemaia and Ilora in the master bedroom with unlimited pay per view movies and room service a phone call away. Duo gets a glimpse of a small pistol Wufei passes to her and she checks over and stows away. At least they won't have to worry about Ilora's safety while they go to the palace.

Marie may be Treize's daughter, but she had been raised by one of the baddest bitches Duo had ever stumbled across. There were times in the wars that Lady Une had scared Duo more that the rest of OZ combined. 

That and Wufei had been assigned as her personal security for part of that time and had trained her in the secret arts of being a Gundam Pilot a.k.a. learning and doing any and everything you may need to survive any given situation. She could take care of herself and keep Ilora safe. 

The drive to the castle is short. They spend it in silence, Zechs shoring up his defenses as they get closer. Wufei is running through last minute meditation techniques with Duo. The words flow over him for the most part. Oh, he is listening but that dark curtain that is Shinigami writhes just beneath the calm surface, ready to strike.

The castle gates are monstrosities of wrought iron and the gardens idyllic. They are let into the grand foyer by the butler who is in turns painfully solicitous to Zechs and borderline rude to Wufei. Duo is ignored almost completely.

Before the grand Salon, they pause as Zechs takes a slow steadying breath as if preparing for battle. Wufei places a hand on the blond's back and they share an intimate look that even the butler glances away from. He opens the door with a flourish.

It's showtime.

They look like ice scuplture, shining and cold in the bright room. Relena is every inch Her Royal Majesty, flawless as she greets her brother and his guests. 

What a surprise Milliardo. Why didn't you call ahead? Oh, no Ilora visiting with you? How WONderful for you to come Milliardo. Yes I know you hate being called Millardo but I am going to call you that because I feel that it keeps you in your place. Everyone must know that you are the tarnished peacecraft. Everyone must know and remember your faults your flaws so that they won't see mine.

Duo blinks the thoughts away. Whoa. Relena's head was a fucked up place. He wasn't even in the room fully and he could feel that off of her. How could Zechs stand that up close.

Ouch. A flare of hatred and disgust. She's seen him. "Hello Princess"

"Maxwell" Scorn drips from every word. A bug to crush under her shoe. Yeesh.

Noin is there, sipping tea. She glares at Zechs, ignores Wufei and doesn't even register Duo. 

Hate, anger, sorrow, regret and jealousy burn like acid in a tight ball under his ribcage. Fuck me. He rubs a fist against the burn in his chest and slowly shores up his shields. Jesus H. Cluny Frog. That's toxic. He's glad she gave up parental rights to Ilora. Just being near her burned.

Quatre is bright like a spotlight. Not like the natural happy sunlight he was before. He's overly bright now, a whirlwind of emotions warring. A sandstorm behind his sky blue eyes. He's talking, greeting Duo as he pulls him in for a hug. Duo smiles, glad to see his friend, bringing up his arms to squeeze his lil' Q-ball like he used too. God he missed Quatre.

He presses his cheek against the petite blond's and freezes, tightening his arms in reflex before forcibly letting go. His mind is frozen as he plasters on a fake smile and acts the jester they think he still is. He slams up his shields, making Zechs glance at him from the corner of his eye. 

Quatre's smile falters for a second and Duo makes some inane comment about not wanting to break royal chachkies. That has them smiling again, thinking him the fool. He makes an excuse to find the bathroom and, after a nod from Wufei, steps out into the empty hall.

He legs fail him as the door closes and he slides down the nearby wall. He presses a hand tightly against his mouth as he struggle not to hyperventilate, squeezing his eyes shut.

Holy God.

They'd come to the palace to search for a clue to finding Heero. Hoping that either Relena or Quatre had a way of getting in touch with the reclusive pilot. But when he touched his cheek to Quatre's what he'd seen was so much worse.

So, so much worse.

Heero was here. In the palace. That dark and lonely place he was calling to Duo from was here. Somewhere in this building. This very building.

And Quatre knew. Quatre knew where he was because he'd just come from there. Heero's despair and fear still lingering on his skin. Duo tried not to vomit then and there.

Gasping for breath he pushed himself until he was leaning against the wall. Soon after he was standing, grateful that someone hadn't come along and found him having a panic attack in the middle of the hall.

Heero was here. Quatre had just been with him. Duo needed to think straight. Keep a rein on Shinigami writhing close to the surface. Hungry to be let loose amongst those who would hurt what was his. Yuy was his dammit. His to own and to be owned. Because all Shinigami knew was to conquer and to be conquered. To want so deeply and completely.

He shook his head clear. Think Maxwell, think. 

Zechs and Wufei were providing cover . Relena, Quatre and Noin were distracted. If he tried to reach for Heero, Quatre would be unto him. He needed to fall back on his skills from the war. Stealth and subterfuge.

He fell back into the glimpses he'd gotten off of Quatre before he'd slammed up his shields, addressing, cataloguing and dismissing emotions with an almost clinical mindset. 

Love for his father, deep disappointment, sorrow for his mother and sisters who deteriorated more each year. love for Trowa, more crushing disappointment that Barton did not have the gene.

Tolerance of Relena, a means to and end. Disgust for Noin for abandoning her family. Hot raging jealousy of Zechs and Wufei's bond. Deep soul aching yearning for that same feeling. Then hope when Heero showed sentinel potential. 

Beautiful Heero, an angel fallen from heaven. Heero, whom Relena had been keeping since the eve wars. Catatonic since that day he fell into her arms.

Heero.

The hunger for a sentinel.

Heero.

The taste of his lips

The touch of his soft skin against the tongue.

Heero.

Sentinel.

The feel of his firm body, kept fit by physiotherapy.

Bile rises in Duo's throat but he pushes through. 

Heero.

So responsive to empathic probing. The noises he makes sometimes.

Heero.

Heero.

Heero….. THERE.

Duo's eyes snap open and up. There. He's there.

Duo is down the hall and up the servant staircase within seconds, pulling up his memories from the last time he was here so long ago. The first war, he thinks. He didn't stick around after the second one.

He should have though. So much time wasted. So much regret. "I'm so sorry Heero. I didn't know."

But that is for later. He ghosts down the hallway, passed the first guards. The second set he gets the jump on. Soon enough they are stuffed in a closet. The last set almost sound the alarm but he is able to wrestle the man into a sleeper hold while his companion wheezes on the ground next to him.

The room open with a stolen key card and the nurse gets a kick to the face that has her down for the count, scalpel falling from her limp hands. The room is dark and cold, soft light from the nurses lamp the only illumination. The bed is surround by machines that beep and whoosh and monitor God knows what.

Duo's legs give out again as he nears the bed and he sits heavily on the edge. He takes one pale and clammy hand in to of his own and bows his head, trembling as the tears fall.

"Oh Heero… " he breathes. "I'm sorry it took me so long to find you. Duo no baka."

He shakes his head, pressing a kiss to the limp hand and bows his head. 

Then, for the first time in the years since the last day of the Eve Wars, gunmetal blue eyes snap open.


	6. Chapter 6

Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit 

Runs through Duo's head as he tries not to panic, a moaning, trembling Heero clutching his hand hard enough that he can hear his bones creak. He tries to push as much comfort as he can to the suffering Wing pilot, gently brushing a stray tear away from the corner of Heero's eyes.

He falls into Heero's emotional turmoil and goes under within seconds. It is just too much. He can't stand it. So much fear, so much pain, so much burning, searing, roaring anger that burns all it touches. No, that is him, he needs to calm down, to push Shinigami back before he burns both their minds to a crisp.

He pushes his way through Heero's fear and finds the source. Heero's levels are going haywire, his dials- the visual of Wing Zero's cockpit controls are all busted up. He can't shield himself from anything, against anyone. His empathy is so strong it's sucking in everything, overwhelming Heero's mind and he's powerless to stop it. 

Everyone's emotions, everyone in the entire palace, all their hopes and dreams and fears vomiting over him constantly, burning across his psyche. Forcing their minds unto his, until he loses himself in the cacophony, buries himself deep to hide from the pain.

Duo climbs unto the bed, wrapping an arm around the prone sentinel, carefully extending his mind's shield over Heero's mind. He knows he's succeeding when Heero suddenly goes limp like a puppet with the strings cut. The Japanese man is keening softly now, curling into Duo's warmth as the braided pilot carefully helps rebuild Wing's cockpit in his mind. 

Slowly but surely, together, they get Heero's levels down until the man is sobbing quietly in the circle of Duo's arms. He blinks into awareness once again and stiffens, Heero tensing with him. That small part of him that senses danger is clanging like a fire house bell in his mind and he turns to the door to see the Winner Heir standing there. Backlit against the hallway light, Quatre's face is obscured but Duo can see the anger in every inch of his body language.

"How dare you…." his voice is an ice cold blade. "… how dare you come in here and try to bond with MY sentinel? Just you do you think you are, you fucking street rat? L2 trash. Practically one foot in the fucking gutter? Who the fuck are you to get a sentinel ? Much less one of Yuy's rank?"

His voice was a shout at the end of the tirade and Heero curls into Duo in fear. Duo moves to shield the other man from Quatre's sight and the vitriol spilling forth from his lips, thickening the protective buffer around the prone man's mind.

He tries for calm first. "Heero's hurt Quatre… He needs help. We need to get him to a hospital."

"NO HOSPITALS." the blond's blue eyes flash angrily. "He is not to leave this room. He belongs here. With me. I am all the help he needs. Besides, hospitals can't help him anyway. Only I can help him now." 

Duo's stomach flops painfully. "What do you…"

Quatre's grin is manic as he cuts Duo off midsentence.

"Doctor J went to town on poor Heero here before the war. His research on Sentinel and Guide Genetics went further and anyone could have ever perceived. He found a kid with a latent sentinel gene and jacked up his levels way passed what was safe or even reasonable. "

"You see, he never expected his 'perfect soldier' to survive the first war, much less two and still be alive and kicking. He built in a fail safe. If Heero didn't find a strong enough guide in time, he would retreat into himself and never come out. He would go catatonic lest he lose control and become a danger to those around him. By rights he should have gone dormant by now. It only proves how special he is that he is still active."

Shinigami strained against restraints with renewed vigour. If that Bastard J wasn't already long dead he'd rip his fucking guts out. Then he'd resurrect his soul from hell just so he could punch his ticket back to Hades but good. 

The anger flows off of Quatre like the tide, wave upon wave of wrath and lust and envy wash over Duo, leaving him feeling dirty and violated as he shields a overly sensitive Heero from the onslaught. Duo had to take a deep breath, pushing the dark miasma that tries to overtake his mind back and squeezing Heero's cold and clammy hand reassuringly in his. He feels a faint squeeze back and feels a small tentative rush of trust. Of faith in him. Heero.

"Well, he's awake now. Maybe we should just ask him what he wants to do huh?" Duo says, threading his fingers through Heero's pale ones.

"NO. HE'S MINE" Quatre screams, his face frozen in a horrendous mask. "HE'S MINE I TELL YOU. HE BELONGS TO ME AND I WANT HIM." he stamps his foot like a spoiled child. "YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM."

"People aren't things Quat. You can't own them."

"I can too" the blond growls. "I am THE WINNER and I can do whatever the fuck I want. I own half the fucking planet and half the colonies to boot. If I want something, I get it. No questions asked. Whatever I fancy, people trip over themselves to fucking give it to me. I am Quatre Rebarba Winner and EVERYONE fucking loves me!"

"Including Trowa…" Duo throws back at him, "… but he loves you. Not The Winner, just you."

Quatre flinches back at the words, startled. He frowns and folds his arms across his chest.

"Trowa's null. Weak pile of quivering flesh. He is NOT my destiny!"

Destiny.

Shit. 

Duo wracked his brain. That kind of talk seemed awfully familiar. If this was what he thought it was then they were all seriously fucked. There is movement behind Quatre, in the hallway. Zechs' cool wind and Wufei's smoldering flame. Duo shivered. He was not alone. Thank God. 

There was a notable absence of Relena's gilded condescension and Noin acid scorn. Duo absently wondered what Zechs and WuBear had to do to keep them away but he was grateful that he didn’t have to deal with them as well.

Ok then. Keep Quatre talking, keep him busy long enough for the others to get into place. 

"Destiny?…. Q?"

The blonde nodded eagerly, his eye shining with an almost manic light. This was not good. Last time this had happened, Q-ball had gone bat shit insane and blown up a colony.

"Yes… my destiny. The Heart of Space told me. Told me that Heero would be my perfect match. That we would be the Alpha Primes of the earth and the colonies. It showed me so many things. Oh Duo … the things it showed me. How could I let anything stand in the way of a perfect future? Heero's is my true match. How could he not be? It's the only outcome that makes any sense."

Quatre's smile was brilliant and it left Duo terrified.

"Zero" he breathed, starting to tremble. Heero whimpered and tucked closer to Duo's back.

Motherfuckin' Zero System. The crazy maker. Thought that fuckin' shit died with Treize and Ephyon. 

Fuckin' hell.

"Yes… Zero. " Quatre's naughty little smile is freaking Duo the fuck out. "….after trying to get through to Heero for so long, Relena and I decided that it was time to 'up the ante'. Through Dorothy, we found Trieze's old notes from Ephyon and the Zero System. It was decided that since I had the most experience with Zero that I would be the one to get the neural interface."

He taps the side of his skull with a chuckle. Duo has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming. What the fuck did Quatre do to his fucking brain?

"After the surgery I felt so strong, you would not believe how good it felt Duo. And we started making real progress, Heero was responding so well. We knew that it was only a matter of time when Heero and I would bond and the three of us would be together."

"Three…. Trowa agreed to this?"

Quatre's laugh is hearty and both pilots on the bed cringe away.

"No not Trowa, silly Duo…" the blonde shakes his head, "… Relena. She loves Heero as much as I do and I am not adverse to sharing my things. I'm sure Heero would be able to handle the both of us. He was always the one with the most endurance."

Duo has to swallow bile. They were going to … share… him. The edges of his vision take on a violet tinge, the sharp lines of objects glinting with an odd glow.

"There ya go, callin' Heero a thing again. he ain't a thing dude. He can't be kept or shared without his permission. Can't you see it Quatre? Heero wasn't getting better, he wasn't healin'. You were hurtin' him...breaking him down, battering against what psyche he had left until he'd been on the edge of losing himself forever. "

"That's why he called to me. That's why he sent the dreams that dragged me here in from all the way in deep space. I could hear his fear and his pain from so far away while you couldn't hear a thing and you're in the same room. Fuck… you still can't hear him even now. How could he be your sentinel when you can't even feel him from this close? Couldn't your Heart of Space SEE what your so-called destiny was doing to him?"

Quatre let out a wordless snarl of rage and was in Duo's face in seconds, tackling him and taking both of them off the bed in a tangle of limbs. It is all Duo can do to protect his face and neck as the ex Sandrock pilot goes berserk above him. 

Zechs and Wufei are in the room in moments, trying to get the small blonde off him but his rage is giving him abnormal strength. Wufei is tossed across the bed, tumbling over a screaming Heero. Duo's mental shield is cracking under the strains of Quatre's physical and metal onslaught. 

Quatre flings a hand through the air and Zechs is flung back into the wall, sliding down to crumple upon the floor. Wufei's cry is nothing like Duo's ever heard before. 

"You think that you could come against me?" Quatre screams, another hand wave has Wufei slamming against the doors. "I am the WINNER. Not even God in heaven himself can hope to cheat me of what is rightfully mine!"

Duo's world is pain as Quatre tries to destroy him, both body and mind. His mind scape is in shambles and blood is running into his eyes as he struggles to stay conscious. A solid blow whips his head to one side and he stares into gunmetal blue eyes. 

Heero is laying helpless on the floor, body to weak to even twitch. A single tear leaks from the corner of his eyes and drips unto the soft carpet as if in surrender to his fate. His 'destiny".

No.

Fuck no.

Never gonna happen.

Something snaps inside of Duo's mind. The door to some deep hell that he's been keeping caged since he'd had to leave Solo's bloated corpse behind in that filthy alley so many years ago. A darkness that he's masked with a smile so many times that he forgets where he begins and his joker's mask ends.

He sinks into violet wrath, letting the rage swallow him whole as he gives the blond a bloody grin.

"I don't know about God in heaven…. " he chuckles darkly, startling the blonde."… I can tell you quite a bit about the God of Hell."

Watashi wa shidesu.   
Watashi wa yamidesu.   
Watashi wa watashi no teki gata ni wazawai shite imasu. 

"Watashi wa Shinigami da. Bitch"

His laughter echoes as he gives himself to the darkness.

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

Sleep clings to him and the bed is so fuckin' comfortable. It's like he's sleeping on a damned cloud. A sense of contentment thrums within him so deep that he thinks that hew could just about stay there forever.

Violet eyes blink open and he frowns as he registers the room around him.

The fuckin' fuck?

The room looks like a bottle of pepto bismol upchucked all over it. Geez Louise.

"Why the hell does Relena like pink so fuckin' much?" he grumbles under his breath.

And soft chuckle has his head whipping to the side. Gunmetal eyes meet his.

"Hn. Duo no baka"

Something in Duo loosens and falls away as he stares into those endless eyes. Heero.

"He...Hey" he stutters lamely, his cheeks flushing as the other man smirks.

They are wrapped around each other in the bed, Heero's body draped half on top of his. His weight a steady comfort against Duo's. Something clicks into place in the back of his mind finally and Duo smiles, a genuine happy smile that makes his cheeks hurt, eyes closing against the sting of relived tears. He presses his forehead against the other's and bites his lip to keep from crying.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here." he confesses as their breath intermingles.

A calloused hand comes up to caress his cheek and a sob escapes him.

"I knew you would come for me. You always came back for me." 

Duo groans and gathers the wing pilot into his arms, burying his face in the Japanese pilot's neck as sobs shake his frame. Heero reaches over to grasp his braid, bringing it under his nose and breathing deeply. Soon enough their hearts are beating in sync as the bond between them slowly unfurls.

Time passes and with it comes Zechs with a tray of refreshment. He helps them both sit up and settles in a chair beside the bed and watches them eat like a hawk. There is crispy toast and fresh jam, bacon and eggs, soft croissants and rich cream cheese, strong coffee with milk and sugar. Duo is ravenous but Heero has been on intravenous nutrition for ages and can only stomach weak broth.

As they break fast for the day, Zechs fills them in on what's been happening. 

After Duo's feral episode... that was the only way to describe what had happened… Quatre had been down for the count. When Wufei was able to rouse Zechs and alert the staff, Quatre had already gone unresponsive. Duo had been in the room's corner, hunched around a semiconscious Heero, growling deeply at anyone who dared approach.

"We finally had to clear everyone out of the entire floor until only I was left. You wouldn't even trust Wufei to come near. I was deemed safe because I was a bonded guide and because I'd spent the time training you . You trusted me to be around you and Heero."

Zechs sits back in the chair with a smile as Duo tried to wrap his mind around that. He took a bite of bacon and chewed. The blond's smile turned into a wicked smirk.

"Relena tried to interfere with the two of you, tried to 'reach' for Heero before a bond could fully form. You called her a spoiled rotten, pink obsessed, little stalker twit and told her to go and take her name-screaming, pink limo driving, hypocritical, closet suicidal ass and look for real man, not some jumped up crazy ideal of what she thinks one should be."

Duo's breakfast lays forgotten as he gapes at Zechs. "The fuck you say?"

"She was quite upset…" Zechs chuckles. "… I was quite amused. Wufei had to excuse himself back to the grand salon two floors down before he laughed himself sick. It was quite a debacle."

Duo's mind reels as Zechs continues his report.

Quatre was in a private hospice owned by the Winners. Iria had been 'read in' the situation and she and Sally Po would be taking over any further research. All of the Gundam Pilots samples and results would be destroyed and no further tests done without explicit consent. Une had already brought Dorothy in for questioning about the neural implant constructed from what was left of Ephyon.

"Q-bean had fuckin' Ephyon in his head? That was beyond fucked up dude."

Relena was also under investigation but would probably never see the inside of a jail for kidnapping Heero for so long. The best they could do was have her step down from the throne for reasons of 'mental exhaustion'. 

It wasn't the best scenario but Sanq's future would be damaged too much if the truth were to come out. Zechs had refused the throne but accepted the role of Prince Regent until the day that Ilora could take the throne as queen.

"My hands are too dirty to be the Monarch that Sanq needs. By the time Ilora is grown, Wufei and I would have prepared the way for her."

Noin was given a choice. Jail time for aiding and abetting in kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment or a one way ticket to Mars. She chose Mars.

Barton was in the wind. He left the WEI in the capable hands of Quatre's numerous sisters, left his gold wedding band in a half full glass of scotch and had walked away from it all with only the clothes on his back. Rumored sightings of him being back at the Carnival with Catherine went un-investigated.

Any and all staff that was present in the palace that day had been briefed and cleared, after signing hefty Non-disclosure agreements. Preventer files were Purged and the records at Sanq were put under lock and key.

After Zechs had taken the tray away, helping them both to make trips to and from the opulent bathroom, he promised to check on them in a few hours and slipped out of the door.

Duo rubbed his hand tiredly down his face with a sigh, the heavy breakfast making him sleepy.

"What a rough couple of weeks. Geez." he slouched further into the bed.

"Couple of weeks?..." Heero's voice still creaked from disuse, "… try a rough couple of years and get back to me."

"Shit Heero I'm sorr…" Duo turned horrified eyes to the Wing Pilot, pulling a face at the contented smile stretching across the Japanese man's face.

God, Heero was beautiful when he smiled.

Wait a minute though…

"Did you … just make a joke there? Were you teasing me? Seriously?"

At Heero's flat look Duo grasps at his chest, falling back into the pillows dramatically.

"Stop the mutherfuckin' presses people. Heero 'perfect soldier' Yuy just cracked a Goddamned joke. It's the end of the earth as we know it."

He lets out a pained grunt as Heero whacks him in the chest. Heero face has lost all laughter and Duo frowns, following Heero's intense gaze to where the hand carved wooden cross lays against his chest, right over his heart.

"You kept it?" Heero's voice wobbles as he reaches up to touch the rough wood.

Duo smiles that little smile, the one just for Heero, "Course I kept it. I kept everything to ever gave me."

"Including my heart." Heero murmurs and Duo's eyes go wide.

Heero blushes prettily and looks back at the cross, resting in the palm of his scarred hand.

"That's what kept me going for so long. Knowing that no matter how hard they tried, that they would never get to the heart of me...."

Blue eyes meet violet.

"...because I gave it to you for safe keeping years ago." 

Duo can't help but press a gentle yet desperate kiss against Heero's chapped lips, heart pounding in his chest. 

God. He loves this man. 

He loves this man so deeply and completely ever since he shot him in the leg that very first day they met. 

There is nothing that he will not do, no obstacle that he will not overcome to keep this so very strong yet so very frail man safe from harm. To keep his sentinel safe from a world that barely knows him, barely understands him, seeks to devour him and discover what makes him tick. To protect him body, mind, soul and bond from a world who'd sought to use him then throw him away too many times. 

You bring trouble unto their block, you get yer head bashed in. Solo had it to rights all those years ago. It don't matter if it's on the mean streets of L2 or the gilded palaces of Sanq. it will be woe unto whosoever wants to come at his man. Because Maxwell's Demon has found himself an angel, fallen from heaven and he ain't never lettin' go.

He'd see to it that Heero always had a choice to be who he wanted to be, not what others demanded from him. His sentinel would be free to truly live his life. Duo swore on the ghosts of his past that he would make it so.

And if anyone tries to start some shit?

Well...

Watashi wa shidesu.   
Watashi wa yamidesu.   
Watashi wa watashi no teki gata ni wazawai shite imasu.   
Watashi wa Shinigami da. 

May God have mercy on their souls because Shinigami sure as hell won't.

Forever and ever.

Amen.


End file.
